I am experiencing a wonderful example of a person weaving prayer into the tapestry of his life, and I want to share it. My pastor, Guy Sayles, learned in February that he has multiple myeloma, a kind of cancer that as one doctor told me “will get you if nothing else gets you first.” Guy has been sharing in a web site- Caring Bridge – about how he is dealing with this news. He is 59 years old and used to being healthy and energetic. He is challenged by this new development in lots of ways. In one of his posts he talked about a thread that goes through life with us. He recalled a poem that he finds gives voice to his feelings. The poet is William Stafford. The title piece of his “New and Selected Poems” is “The Way It Is”.
I identified with the image of a thread that runs through life.
There is a thread you follow. It goes among
things that change. But it doesn’t change.
People wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can’t get lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt
or die; and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding.
You don’t ever let go of the thread.
Guy concludes: “The thread is, for me, the love of God made real in the love of others. It can feel like a slender thread, sometimes, but it is stronger than anything else.”
My response was that the thread of prayer is a way we experience that love of God and “while you hold it, you can’t get lost.”
Guy has given me permission to quote his sharing about the way he is weaving prayer into the tapestry of his life now. I can’t think of a better way to keep my book alive than by telling stories about people who weave prayer into the tapestry of their life every day.
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